The Hit Web Series ‘Brown Girls’ Is Coming to HBO

Brown Girls the critically acclaimed web series that first appeared on Elle’s earlier this year is being adapted for HBO. The creators of Brown Girls, writer Fatimah Asghar and director Samantha Bailey, have announced to Elle that HBO has signed the pair to a development deal to bring their hit series to the network.

This is the second web series HBO has adapted in the past few years followingthe success of Issa Rae’s ‘Insecure‘, which HBO took notice of when the show was a popular web series called The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl. The network then brought Rae on to expand the show for a full series with a bigger budget and writers room.

In an interview with Elle, screenwriter Fatimah Asghar and director Samantha Bailey discussed the adaption, emphasizing the “grassroots” origins of the project — group brainstorming on Facebook and friends volunteering to come down to the set to do work for free. The series, set in Chicago, will be translated to HBO with this same DIY spirit, Asghar says: ”It’s a city that is very mercurial, resourceful, and sly in a way that I love. I want to carry some of that over to television. We don’t want a show that is flashy and smooth. We want a show that is gritty. That has this kind of realness to it.”

In an interview with Jezebel in February, Bailey said comparisons to Broad City and Girls weren’t entirely accurate, noting that Brown Girls “fall[s] in with Awkward Black Girl, with Insecure and Atlanta. These are young people of color who are fully involved in telling their version of their story.”

Read also: Watch ‘Broad City’s’ First Trailer for Season Four Starring Rupaul and Steve BuscemiIn the Elle interview, Asghar referenced Rae again, saying, “Without Issa, and all the things she did to knock doors open, people would not have looked at us or taken us seriously. She kind of paved the way for us and we can do that for other folks. I hope we can do that for other girls.”